Equipment
Forum Thread of the Day: “High launching, low spinning 3-wood”
Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from XHILR8N who is on the lookout for a new 3-wood. XHILR8N is on the hunt for a metal wood which will offer him a combination of a high launch and low spin rate, and our members have been offering up their suggestions in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- Thinnedit: “Adjust your current club up to its highest loft setting. You’ll be surprised how a bit more loft can help.”
- Nixhex524: “I would think the TS2 would help with some height having that weight further back. That, or go to a 4 or 5w with a higher launch shaft.”
- colleje26: “Another +1 on the ping G400. I struggle to elevate it and ever at the std setting 14.5 I launch it well of the deck.”
- bladehunter: “Checkout the ping 400-410 sft. With the 410 lie adjustment, it’s not nearly as draw bias as people think. But has a shallow profile and weight back. Super easy to elevate. But isn’t hitting moonballs. Cannot say enough good things about ping fairways and hybrid this year. Best kept secrets in equipment, in my opinion.”
Entire Thread: “High launching, low spinning 3-wood”
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- Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.
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Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.
The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.
This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.
In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.
1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter
Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.
2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles
Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.
The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.
The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.
See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship
3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup
Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.
Respect.
The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.
As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.
Spot on.
4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges
We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.
Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?
View this post on Instagram
A true showman.
5) DJ’s custom putter
Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.
See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here
6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons
Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.
The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.
Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week
7) Beem’s Scratch set
Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.
See Rich Beem’s full WITB here
8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron
Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.
Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”
He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.
9) “Why so serious?”
Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”
10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address
As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.
Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums
And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.
Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!
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We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much better last week, so he is hoping to continue that success and post another good score.
Here are the 14 clubs that will hopefully win him some skins!
Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops (9 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X (2024)
3-wood: Cobra Dark Speed LS Titanium (14.5 degrees, set +1)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7x
Fairway: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Blue 8 X
Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops 4h (22 degrees, Flat Setting)
Shaft: KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype 85 S
Irons: TaylorMade P770 Phantom Black (5-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (50-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (56-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (60-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Putter: L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max
Shaft: Accra x L.A.B. White
Ball: Titleist ProV1 Enhanced Alignment
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joro
Jul 14, 2019 at 12:59 pm
At 80 i of course can’t get a 3 wood off the ground until I got the Mizuno ST180. Set it at 15 and up it goes and when it hits the ground it is a Rabbit. I have a Reg flex shaft.
Stu
Jul 11, 2019 at 7:14 am
Look at the tour edge when it comes to 3 woods. I got an ex10 with a tour ad shaft for $65. I have never hit a wood so well and confidently. Out of rough or fairway,it goes.
Dan W
Jul 9, 2019 at 4:00 am
Responding to the comment by nixhex524 in the article. A higher launching shaft adds spin. The low spin is achieved by a smaller front weighted head and low launching shaft then couple it with high loft. Any attempt to launch it high with the shaft or low/ back weight or shallow face adds spin. All manufacturers know how to get the combination. Look up what’s in the bag of tour pros and you’ll see the proper combination of parts to do it. There’s a reason the tours littered with old 2017 m2 tour heads and Callaway Sub Zero heads , they are smaller front weighted heads. If your lucky mabye a shallow back weighted high launching head can spin low if you strengthen the loft enough but that’s a harder way to achieve it
Fan W
Jul 9, 2019 at 3:51 am
Everyone, the thread is high launching, low spin 3wd. Just adding loft won’t turn your 3 Ed into a low spin settup. Also for all the Ping comments, Pings are great but all their woods are the highest spinning woods made, its no secret, adding loft makes it worse. They are too high a moi and to shallow faced to work. You need a smaller deeper faced front weighted head. The shaft needs to be low launching too( meaning it’ll spin low.) Couple that with high loft and you’ve got it. Best options- Taylormade 2017 M2 Tour HL 16.5 loft, TS3 16.5, Callaway Epic, Rogue, or Epic Flash Sub Zero in 15 deg then add loft. Even the XR 16 Pro in 16 deg is good. Just look at the bottom of the head for a front weight or an option to move it foward. Best bets are the TM and original Epic Sub Zero.
Greenberg Joseph
Jul 8, 2019 at 2:19 pm
Go to EBay for Honma 737 13 degree 3 metal with Red Type A shaft (low kick/ high launch without excessive torque). I have it in stiff. Can launch at any angle. Forgiving. Not unbelievably long in air due to low spin but consistent and accurate, which is my goal for long fairway metal. Low spin due to forward weight (unlike this year’s model. BTW, my new one (though marked used) was $79